Week 6
Variables, Expressions, and Statements

Weekly Summary

For the remainder of the semester we will be programming in the text-based, Python programming language.

www.python.org

This week we will look at the building block operators in Python that allow us to perform basic mathematical operations and store results in appropriate variables.

Recall from our prior Scratch Unit that we defined variables as:

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the week students should be able to:

  • Given the name for a variable, indicate whether it is a legal name in python (does it follow the rules of syntax).
  • Given one or more mathematical expressions using the python mathematical operators, indicate the result.
  • Describe the function of the three Python division operators.
  • Explain differences between integer and floating-point data.
  • Given one or more statements that set the value of a variable, indicate the data type of the variable.
  • Given one or more statements, indicate the value(s) in one or more variables upon completion of the statements.
  • Given a print statement, determine the output.

 

Learning Materials

 

If you didn't attend the CoP on Saturday...

PRIOR to starting this week's materials you should make sure that you have done some activities that were completed at the Community of Practice event on Saturday, September 23. These include:

 

Getting Started with Python

 

Paired or Small-group Activity

If we were working in a face-to-face classroom I would have you complete the following POGIL activity in groups of 3 or 4 [which is the intention of POGIL activities]. Since we are not face-to-face I give you the option of either:

  • completing this on your own
  • completing this face-to-face with a small group of peers
  • completing this online with a small group of peers

The choice is yours and you don't have to tell me (because I'm not collecting this activity. It's for learning purposes, not grading purposes).

 

Textbook Readings

 

Additional Explanations

Think of the following a little bit like podcasts. I will add videos here as I get questions from students or when I decide that I need to say something more beyond what is in the book. These won't "drop" on a particular day like the podcasts did in FCCS, but will get added as the need arises. I would suggest you watch this space to see if new stuff has shown up. And if you have questions and feel there is a video that needs to go here PLEASE email me and let me know.